This invention relates generally to a protective helmet with protective facepiece connection and adjustment provision, and more particularly relates to a protective helmet including an outer shell and an inner impact shell and mounting means for mounting a protective facepiece to the inner impact shell and which mounting means includes adjustment means for adjusting the force with which the protective mask is forced into sealing engagement with the face of a wearer of the helmet.
Numerous protective helmets with protective facepiece connection and adjustment provision are known to the prior art, such as for example those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,083,065; 4,136,403; 4,555,815; 4,734,940; and 4,817,596; it will be noted that none of these patents disclose connection of a protective facepiece to the inner impact shell of a protective helmet.
Protective helmets, such as those used by firefighters or the like, are also known to the art which include a relatively rigid outer shell and a deformable inner shell, sometimes referred to in the art as an inner impact shell, wherein the inner impact shell deforms upon receipt of an impact force on the helmet, such as that caused by a falling object, and which deforms to assist, in combination with the outer relatively hard shell and in some embodiments additional structure, in attenuating the impact force to protect the head of the wearer of the helmet. An example of such protective helmet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,339, patented Sep. 1, 1981, Peter A. Coombs inventor, entitled FIREMAN'S HELMET WITH ENERGY ABSORBING LINER, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention (hereinafter "Coombs Patent"); the Coombs Patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein. The Coombs Patent discloses, note FIG. 2, an outer shell 10 of relatively hard material such as polycarbonate and a separate non-resilient foam (e.g. polyurethane) liner 20, better understood by reference to FIG. 3 of the Coombs Patent, which non-resilient foam liner 20 is is mounted removably to the interior of the outer shell and which is deformable under an impact force such as that provided by a falling object to attenuate the force and assist other helmet structure, as taught in the Coombs patent, in providing protection to the head of the wearer of the helmet. Such non-resilient foam liner 12 of the Coombs patent is sometimes referred to in the art as an inner impact cap or shell or a deformable impact cap or shell and will be so referred to in the following specification and appended claims. As further taught in the Coombs Patent and shown particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3, a cradle 30 comprised of a plurality of radially disposed straps 32 of strong webbing, such as nylon, are stitched together at the central apex of the cradle, and each strap extends from the apex to the lower rim 22 of the inner impact shell 20 at a notch 23 formed in the rim 22. The straps 32 wrap about the rim 22 and proceed upwardly along the outer surface of the inner impact shell 20, wrap about a relatively thick walled, fairly rigid tube 25 of resilient plastic, such as polyethylene, which tube 25 is inset in a groove formed in the lower outer surface of the inner impact shell 20, and then proceed back along the lower rim 22 of the inner impact shell to approach the apex as a free end with a loop 33; the loops 33 of the free ends of the straps are collected by a draw string 35 which is mounted to allow adjustment of the cradle 30 to suit the head of an individual wearer of the helmet.
As known to those skilled in the art, an advantage provided by a protective helmet including a hard outer shell and a deformable inner impact cap or shell mounted removably to the interior of the outer shell of the type disclosed in the Coombs Patent is that upon a fireman having such helmet strapped tightly to his head and falling through a hole typically present at the scene of the fire, the fireman will not suffer injury, e.g. strangulation, upon falling through the hole and having the brim of his protective helmet catch on structure on either side of the hole; instead only the outer shell will be caught by the structure on either side of the hole and the inner impact shell, with the fireman's head strapped inside, will separate from the outer shell and pass through the hole and prevent the fireman from hanging and possibly strangling.
As noted above, none of the United States patents identified above in the second paragraph hereof teach or suggest the connection of a protective facepiece to the inner impact shell of a protective helmet including both the inner impact shell and an outer shell as described above. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for the combination of a protective helmet including an outer shell and a deformable inner impact cap or shell mounted removably to the interior of the outer shell and a protective facepiece wherein the facepiece is connected or mounted to the inner impact cap or shell shell whereby at a time of need for the protective facepiece such as at the scene of a fire, the facepiece remains in sealing engagement with the face of the fireman even when the outer shell of the fireman's protective helmet becomes disassociated with the inner impact shell. A further need in the art is for such combined structure wherein the facepiece is mounted or connected adjustably to the inner impact shell whereby the force with which the facepiece is forced into sealing engagement with the face of the wearer of the helmet may be adjusted.